DHAR DHAR

On the 16th of this month I am going to be an engineer. I have finished all my exams and I am just waiting for the results. So, after facing the grind 24*7 for the last four years, I am going to ask this, “Am I a good engineer?” If you look superficially, you will probably think I am. I have good grades, I have published papers in international journals, I have good recommendations and of course I know my trade inside out. All the signs of a good engineer, right? No, wrong. So who is a good engineer? I was intrigued by this question and I decided to find out. After much soul searching and Googling, I came up with this:

A Good Engineer is Curious

“Curiosity killed the cat”. Yes, I know that. But we a not cats and curiosity in right amount never kills. If you are not curious then all the other traits won’t do any good. You should be able to take things apart and then put them back again. Taking things apart is the easy part but putting them back is not. You need to observe how the different parts are arranged and follow a proper sequence to be able to put the thing back again. This requires observation and analysis. Taking things apart is ‘curiosity’ which killed the cat, but putting them back is ‘in right amount’ which never kills.

A Good Engineer is practical

The next thing is being practical. What exactly is it? Who is practical and who is not? To be honest this world is full of crap. An engineer needs to separate the information from the crap. Being practical is to logically analyze the situation, understand the variables and make decisions best suitable for the current situations. Being practical also involves consulting datasheets, calling companies, gathering information and many such things related to data gathering. A good engineer needs to formulate plans and come up with the most effective way to execute them.

A Good Engineer is Innovative
A good engineer needs to be innovative. Innovation can be as simple as cutting the cost of the process by 1% to designing a super computer. Innovation needs core knowledge and the ability to think out of the box. It comes from curiosity and from being practical. Before one can innovate and find better solutions for existing problems, s/he should question the solution already in place. Innovation also needs good management skills. If you innovate and improve a process but in-turn increase its execution time, that is useless. There are always some trade-offs and innovation should be within those limits.

A Good Engineer is Problem Solver

I never liked solving the assignments and problem sheets which the professors used to give, but over the years I have come to realise how important and useful these exercises are. Of course, you will never be asked to solve problems in a real life situation, but by solving the end-of-exercise problems now you will know in future that a solution exists, and that goes a long way in the overall productivity. A good engineer should have this problem solving attitude. He should be practical and innovative to solve problems which may come up in the wildest possible form imaginable.

A Good Engineer knows his Tools

To solve a problem one needs his tools. A carpenter without his saw is nothing. Same goes for the engineer. He should know where to look and for what. There are various kinds of tools at the disposal of an engineer. The computer now-a-days is the best example. Similarly, there are oscilloscopes, CNC machines, motors and all sorts of tools available. A good engineer should be thorough with them all.

A Good Engineer learns fast

Every task, engineering or non engineering has its difficulties and tough parts. Mistakes and failures are bound to happen, and they happen a lot. A good engineer is one who learns from his past mistakes. And this learning should be fast. In this field there is nothing like slow learning. You can’t afford to make the same mistake twice and say you are learning! This also applies to problem solving. There may be instances where in order to solve a problem you have to learn new things. In such cases fast learning is helpful.

These are some of the points I think are essential in a good engineer. Engineering as a profession may be quite fulfilling and rewarding. It all depends upon how we want it to be. India produces 300,000 engineers each year. I don’t know how many of them have the above qualities. But even if 10% have them then that amounts to 30,000. That’s enough to change this world.